Muddasir Ahmad Akhoon, Abhishek Shaw, Vidya Vemireddy
Developing country governments often launch new agricultural programmes without collecting pre‐implementation survey data, making it difficult to evaluate the effects of such programmes. Leveraging the flexibility of granular pixel‐level satellite panel data and a well‐developed quasi‐experimental policy evaluation design, we study a programme where pre‐implementation data is unavailable. We estimate the effect of cash transfers on agricultural productivity in Telangana, India. Treatment and control regions are within 10 km on either side of the state border. They are identical in all respects except for the difference in exposure to policy treatment. Agricultural productivity increased in the major monsoon cropping season due to the cash transfer programme. The findings also reveal that cash transfers helped reduce productivity gaps between irrigated and rainfed agricultural areas. Our results are robust to two different sources of satellite data, three alternative indicators of productivity, two rounds of full‐scale resampling, 100 rounds of small‐scale resampling and three alternative border designs. Placebo regressions of two previous years also confirm our results. This approach to policy evaluation is applicable anywhere satellite data are available in the world.
{"title":"Policy Evaluation in the Absence of Survey Data: Customised Border Designs With Satellite Data","authors":"Muddasir Ahmad Akhoon, Abhishek Shaw, Vidya Vemireddy","doi":"10.1111/1477-9552.70030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.70030","url":null,"abstract":"Developing country governments often launch new agricultural programmes without collecting pre‐implementation survey data, making it difficult to evaluate the effects of such programmes. Leveraging the flexibility of granular pixel‐level satellite panel data and a well‐developed quasi‐experimental policy evaluation design, we study a programme where pre‐implementation data is unavailable. We estimate the effect of cash transfers on agricultural productivity in Telangana, India. Treatment and control regions are within 10 km on either side of the state border. They are identical in all respects except for the difference in exposure to policy treatment. Agricultural productivity increased in the major monsoon cropping season due to the cash transfer programme. The findings also reveal that cash transfers helped reduce productivity gaps between irrigated and rainfed agricultural areas. Our results are robust to two different sources of satellite data, three alternative indicators of productivity, two rounds of full‐scale resampling, 100 rounds of small‐scale resampling and three alternative border designs. Placebo regressions of two previous years also confirm our results. This approach to policy evaluation is applicable anywhere satellite data are available in the world.","PeriodicalId":14994,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Economics","volume":"46 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146153642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Most cocoa farmers in Côte d'Ivoire are trapped in a cycle of poverty and farming practices that degrade the environment. This paper aims to provide an in‐depth understanding of the price formation process for cocoa at each stage of the supply chain in the world's largest cocoa‐producing country. By examining potential inefficiencies that affect price pass‐through and could explain exceptionally low farm‐gate prices, the study seeks to identify segments of the supply chain where policy or market interventions could improve outcomes for farmers. Our approach couples econometric analyses using secondary cocoa price data and primary farm household survey data with qualitative assessments of institutional factors specific to the cocoa value chain in Côte d'Ivoire. Notwithstanding the country's highly regulated system of setting cocoa prices, we do not find evidence of inefficiencies that would explain persistently low farm‐gate prices. Nor do we find that the recently introduced ‘Living Income Differential’, a price surcharge on internationally traded cocoa, has benefited farmers. We conclude by advocating that the international cocoa industry strengthens its development programmes in cocoa‐growing communities, and that the government supports these efforts with better provision of infrastructure and other public goods. Such efforts could ultimately serve to increase the opportunity cost of cocoa production, drawing farmers into other employment sectors while improving the resilience and livelihoods of those who remain.
{"title":"Pass‐Through of Cocoa Prices Along the Supply Chain: What's Left for Farmers in Côte d'Ivoire?","authors":"Kathrin Kaestner, Gunther Bensch, Colin Vance","doi":"10.1111/1477-9552.70021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.70021","url":null,"abstract":"Most cocoa farmers in Côte d'Ivoire are trapped in a cycle of poverty and farming practices that degrade the environment. This paper aims to provide an in‐depth understanding of the price formation process for cocoa at each stage of the supply chain in the world's largest cocoa‐producing country. By examining potential inefficiencies that affect price pass‐through and could explain exceptionally low farm‐gate prices, the study seeks to identify segments of the supply chain where policy or market interventions could improve outcomes for farmers. Our approach couples econometric analyses using secondary cocoa price data and primary farm household survey data with qualitative assessments of institutional factors specific to the cocoa value chain in Côte d'Ivoire. Notwithstanding the country's highly regulated system of setting cocoa prices, we do not find evidence of inefficiencies that would explain persistently low farm‐gate prices. Nor do we find that the recently introduced ‘Living Income Differential’, a price surcharge on internationally traded cocoa, has benefited farmers. We conclude by advocating that the international cocoa industry strengthens its development programmes in cocoa‐growing communities, and that the government supports these efforts with better provision of infrastructure and other public goods. Such efforts could ultimately serve to increase the opportunity cost of cocoa production, drawing farmers into other employment sectors while improving the resilience and livelihoods of those who remain.","PeriodicalId":14994,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Economics","volume":"286 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146042522","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fissha Asmare, Bethan Thompson, Tarek Soliman, Thomas Donovan, Klaus Glenk, Andrew Barnes
Quantifying and improving the environmental performance (EP) of agriculture has become an urgent research and policy priority. Over the past three decades, frontier‐based analytical frameworks have been widely applied to evaluate farm‐level EP. We present a global systematic review and meta‐analysis of 121 studies (comprising 800 unique environmental performance estimates) that use a frontier‐based approach for farm‐level EP evaluation. Adhering to PRISMA guidelines, we extract and synthesise information on modelling approaches, estimation methods, pollutant types, as well as other data and study characteristics. We also consider the determinants for EP. We find that there is inertia in the shift towards more recent and methodologically better environmental performance evaluation techniques, such as the by‐production approach and material balance methods, at the farm level. A random effects meta‐regression reveals that the methodological approach and estimation methods explain the variation in EP. Farm type and inclusion of determinants are also important. We identify multiple significant determinants of environmental performance across agricultural systems. The findings advance academic understanding of how modelling frameworks shape EP estimates. They also offer practical insights to help policymakers understand specific policy variables and farm‐specific factors that could be leveraged to improve environmental performance. For example, fostering pro‐environmental attitudes and encouraging the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices through extension services can help enhance environmental performance in farming.
{"title":"Environmental Performance Evaluation Under the Frontier Analysis Framework: A Farm‐Level Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis","authors":"Fissha Asmare, Bethan Thompson, Tarek Soliman, Thomas Donovan, Klaus Glenk, Andrew Barnes","doi":"10.1111/1477-9552.70027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.70027","url":null,"abstract":"Quantifying and improving the environmental performance (EP) of agriculture has become an urgent research and policy priority. Over the past three decades, frontier‐based analytical frameworks have been widely applied to evaluate farm‐level EP. We present a global systematic review and meta‐analysis of 121 studies (comprising 800 unique environmental performance estimates) that use a frontier‐based approach for farm‐level EP evaluation. Adhering to PRISMA guidelines, we extract and synthesise information on modelling approaches, estimation methods, pollutant types, as well as other data and study characteristics. We also consider the determinants for EP. We find that there is inertia in the shift towards more recent and methodologically better environmental performance evaluation techniques, such as the by‐production approach and material balance methods, at the farm level. A random effects meta‐regression reveals that the methodological approach and estimation methods explain the variation in EP. Farm type and inclusion of determinants are also important. We identify multiple significant determinants of environmental performance across agricultural systems. The findings advance academic understanding of how modelling frameworks shape EP estimates. They also offer practical insights to help policymakers understand specific policy variables and farm‐specific factors that could be leveraged to improve environmental performance. For example, fostering pro‐environmental attitudes and encouraging the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices through extension services can help enhance environmental performance in farming.","PeriodicalId":14994,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Economics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146000556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Olayinka Aremu, Patrick Illien, Adeola Oluwafunmiso Olajide, Eva‐Marie Meemken
Labour contracting, where intermediaries provide farmers with migrant workers, plays a central role in meeting the demand for seasonal labour on labour‐intensive farms. Yet this system poses underresearched challenges for both workers and farmers. A few studies, mostly qualitative, link labour contracting to exploitative conditions, raising concerns about workers' welfare (Sustainable Development Goal 8). However, poor working conditions are widespread in agriculture, and notably, quantitative comparisons between contract and non‐contract workers are lacking. For farmers, these precarious conditions pose a production risk if they lead to higher turnover. However, such links have so far been mainly documented in high‐skilled settings. Here, we address these gaps and provide the first empirical evidence on the links between contract labour, job quality and turnover intention. We use matched worker–employer survey data, rarely available in agricultural research, complemented with qualitative insights from a well‐suited case study: Nigeria's labour‐intensive tomato sector, where farmers recruit workers through personal networks and labour contractors. Using decomposition analysis—commonly used to examine gender gaps—in a novel way, we assess disparities in working conditions between contract and non‐contract workers. Our findings show that contract labour is associated with structural disparities in working conditions. Complementary qualitative insights show how rules, norms and practices embedded in labour contracting systems contribute to these structural inequalities. Paradoxically, despite poorer conditions, contract workers report job satisfaction levels similar to non‐contract workers—likely reflecting limited alternatives. Consequently, turnover intentions are comparable across both groups, with job satisfaction being the primary driver of turnover intentions.
{"title":"Contract Labour, Job Quality and Turnover Intention—Evidence From Nigeria","authors":"Olayinka Aremu, Patrick Illien, Adeola Oluwafunmiso Olajide, Eva‐Marie Meemken","doi":"10.1111/1477-9552.70028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.70028","url":null,"abstract":"Labour contracting, where intermediaries provide farmers with migrant workers, plays a central role in meeting the demand for seasonal labour on labour‐intensive farms. Yet this system poses underresearched challenges for both workers and farmers. A few studies, mostly qualitative, link labour contracting to exploitative conditions, raising concerns about workers' welfare (Sustainable Development Goal 8). However, poor working conditions are widespread in agriculture, and notably, quantitative comparisons between contract and non‐contract workers are lacking. For farmers, these precarious conditions pose a production risk if they lead to higher turnover. However, such links have so far been mainly documented in high‐skilled settings. Here, we address these gaps and provide the first empirical evidence on the links between contract labour, job quality and turnover intention. We use matched worker–employer survey data, rarely available in agricultural research, complemented with qualitative insights from a well‐suited case study: Nigeria's labour‐intensive tomato sector, where farmers recruit workers through personal networks and labour contractors. Using decomposition analysis—commonly used to examine gender gaps—in a novel way, we assess disparities in working conditions between contract and non‐contract workers. Our findings show that contract labour is associated with structural disparities in working conditions. Complementary qualitative insights show how rules, norms and practices embedded in labour contracting systems contribute to these structural inequalities. Paradoxically, despite poorer conditions, contract workers report job satisfaction levels similar to non‐contract workers—likely reflecting limited alternatives. Consequently, turnover intentions are comparable across both groups, with job satisfaction being the primary driver of turnover intentions.","PeriodicalId":14994,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Economics","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145986495","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Thomas Slijper, Julia Höhler, Tanja Šumrada, Jens Rommel, Živa Alif, Jesus Barreiro‐Hurle, Anne Sophie Dietrich, Uliana Gottlieb, Thanh Mai Ha, Karin Hakelius, Helena Hansson, Vivian Wei Huang, Katja Knez, Gaëlle Leduc, Nina Lind, Yann de Mey, Ana Novak, Harold Opdenbosch, Enoch Owusu‐Sekyere, Oyakhilomen Oyinbo, Anton Perpar, Jaap Sok, Luuk Vissers, Scarlett Wang, Lotte Yanore
Research based on farmer surveys is a cornerstone of agricultural economics. Farmer surveys provide unique insights into behavioural variables—such as values, motivations, attitudes, behaviours, and preferences—that are unavailable in secondary datasets. However, the decline in farm numbers across most European countries, combined with a growing number of surveys, is posing a threat to farmer survey research. This paper synthesises current practices in farmer surveys in the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Sweden. Our approach is meta‐scientific, drawing on a survey aimed at researchers responsible for 34 farmer surveys conducted between January 2019 and August 2024. This analysis is complemented by a document analysis and critical reflection workshops. We identify three key challenges: (i) limited consistency and standardisation of socio‐economic survey questions, (ii) long surveys, which are associated with high attrition and low response rates, and (iii) low adoption of open science practices. To address these challenges, we propose a set of best practices to enhance the transparency, comparability, standardisation, and reusability of farmer survey data. These best practices aim to strengthen the quality of survey‐based research in agricultural economics and ensure that farmer surveys continue to support evidence‐based policymaking.
{"title":"Surveying the Farmer Survey: A Synthesis of Research Practices in the Netherlands, Slovenia and Sweden","authors":"Thomas Slijper, Julia Höhler, Tanja Šumrada, Jens Rommel, Živa Alif, Jesus Barreiro‐Hurle, Anne Sophie Dietrich, Uliana Gottlieb, Thanh Mai Ha, Karin Hakelius, Helena Hansson, Vivian Wei Huang, Katja Knez, Gaëlle Leduc, Nina Lind, Yann de Mey, Ana Novak, Harold Opdenbosch, Enoch Owusu‐Sekyere, Oyakhilomen Oyinbo, Anton Perpar, Jaap Sok, Luuk Vissers, Scarlett Wang, Lotte Yanore","doi":"10.1111/1477-9552.70024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.70024","url":null,"abstract":"Research based on farmer surveys is a cornerstone of agricultural economics. Farmer surveys provide unique insights into behavioural variables—such as values, motivations, attitudes, behaviours, and preferences—that are unavailable in secondary datasets. However, the decline in farm numbers across most European countries, combined with a growing number of surveys, is posing a threat to farmer survey research. This paper synthesises current practices in farmer surveys in the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Sweden. Our approach is meta‐scientific, drawing on a survey aimed at researchers responsible for 34 farmer surveys conducted between January 2019 and August 2024. This analysis is complemented by a document analysis and critical reflection workshops. We identify three key challenges: (i) limited consistency and standardisation of socio‐economic survey questions, (ii) long surveys, which are associated with high attrition and low response rates, and (iii) low adoption of open science practices. To address these challenges, we propose a set of best practices to enhance the transparency, comparability, standardisation, and reusability of farmer survey data. These best practices aim to strengthen the quality of survey‐based research in agricultural economics and ensure that farmer surveys continue to support evidence‐based policymaking.","PeriodicalId":14994,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Economics","volume":"88 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145938025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chrispinus Mutsami, Martin C. Parlasca, Matin Qaim
Most households in rural Africa are involved in smallholder farming, but off‐farm employment is an important additional income source for many. Previous research has analysed links between off‐farm employment and well‐being, but mostly at the household level, not considering that household members may be affected differently. In particular, gender gaps in employment, nutrition and other well‐being dimensions are widely observed. Here, we use survey data collected in Tanzania and Zambia to examine how women's off‐farm employment influences their individual‐level dietary quality. Regression estimates with instrumental variables show that women's off‐farm employment is associated with improved dietary diversity, including more frequent consumption of nutritious foods such as meat, fish, fruits and vegetables. We also explore potential mechanisms, including changes in household income, women's decision‐making and time allocation. The main results hold across various robustness checks, suggesting that improving women's access to off‐farm employment can help increase household income and reduce widespread gender gaps in rural Africa.
{"title":"Women's Off‐Farm Employment and Dietary Quality in Rural Africa","authors":"Chrispinus Mutsami, Martin C. Parlasca, Matin Qaim","doi":"10.1111/1477-9552.70026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.70026","url":null,"abstract":"Most households in rural Africa are involved in smallholder farming, but off‐farm employment is an important additional income source for many. Previous research has analysed links between off‐farm employment and well‐being, but mostly at the household level, not considering that household members may be affected differently. In particular, gender gaps in employment, nutrition and other well‐being dimensions are widely observed. Here, we use survey data collected in Tanzania and Zambia to examine how women's off‐farm employment influences their individual‐level dietary quality. Regression estimates with instrumental variables show that women's off‐farm employment is associated with improved dietary diversity, including more frequent consumption of nutritious foods such as meat, fish, fruits and vegetables. We also explore potential mechanisms, including changes in household income, women's decision‐making and time allocation. The main results hold across various robustness checks, suggesting that improving women's access to off‐farm employment can help increase household income and reduce widespread gender gaps in rural Africa.","PeriodicalId":14994,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Economics","volume":"115 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145938023","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Achieving ambitious pesticide reduction goals calls for collaboration and shared vision among multiple stakeholders. This study evaluates whether this is the case in three French pesticide‐intensive production sectors: vine‐growing, orchards and fruits & vegetables farming. To do so, it uses the Q‐method to assess farmers' decision‐making criteria when selecting crop protection strategies, taking stock of technical, economic, and organisational constraints, as well as health and environmental impacts. It also compares these criteria with the perspectives of researchers and advisors on farmers' priorities. After combining a factor analysis with a fractional multilogit model accounting for factor loadings, the findings reveal four distinct profiles across the sample: a competitiveness‐oriented approach; a focus on reducing health and environmental impacts; a risk management perspective; and an integrated vision combining multiple priorities. Being a farmer, advisor or researcher significantly influences the likelihood of belonging to one profile or another. However, close interactions between farmers, researchers, and advisors help bridge differences in priorities, fostering more closely aligned perspectives on crop protection strategies. These results point to key indicators that researchers and advisors could leverage to better inform farmers about alternative crop protection methods, ultimately supporting more sustainable agricultural practices.
{"title":"Criteria for Choosing Crop Protection Strategies: Comparative Perspectives From Farmers, Advisors and Researchers","authors":"Marianne Lefebvre, Laure Latruffe, Maxime Colin, Adeline Alonso Ugaglia, Julie Borg, Yann Desjeux, Gaëlle Leduc, Aurélien Milliat, Laure Perchepied, Yann Raineau","doi":"10.1111/1477-9552.70023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.70023","url":null,"abstract":"Achieving ambitious pesticide reduction goals calls for collaboration and shared vision among multiple stakeholders. This study evaluates whether this is the case in three French pesticide‐intensive production sectors: vine‐growing, orchards and fruits & vegetables farming. To do so, it uses the Q‐method to assess farmers' decision‐making criteria when selecting crop protection strategies, taking stock of technical, economic, and organisational constraints, as well as health and environmental impacts. It also compares these criteria with the perspectives of researchers and advisors on farmers' priorities. After combining a factor analysis with a fractional multilogit model accounting for factor loadings, the findings reveal four distinct profiles across the sample: a competitiveness‐oriented approach; a focus on reducing health and environmental impacts; a risk management perspective; and an integrated vision combining multiple priorities. Being a farmer, advisor or researcher significantly influences the likelihood of belonging to one profile or another. However, close interactions between farmers, researchers, and advisors help bridge differences in priorities, fostering more closely aligned perspectives on crop protection strategies. These results point to key indicators that researchers and advisors could leverage to better inform farmers about alternative crop protection methods, ultimately supporting more sustainable agricultural practices.","PeriodicalId":14994,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Economics","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145907954","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Society's published presidential addresses have embraced a wide range of subject matter, reflecting a ‘road well travelled’ in agricultural economics. The areas covered include the development and use of data and statistics, lessons from history, sectoral analysis, land economics, international trade and international development. There has been a major focus on the application of economic concepts to agricultural and agri‐environmental policy. The addresses also led to consideration of a number of important issues that go beyond the confines of technical analysis to a ‘road less travelled’. These issues include weaknesses in behavioural assumptions in economic theory, the challenge of objectivity in applied analysis, the limitations imposed by a static theoretical framework and the inadequacies of welfare economics in addressing distributional issues in policy choice. The addresses, spanning almost 100 years, demonstrate the role of agricultural economics in evidence‐based policymaking to address critical issues in the use of natural resources. The apparent rejection of the evidence‐based approach in some countries raises the question of whether humankind will be successful in finding a solution to the existential challenge posed by climate change.
{"title":"Insights from the Presidential Addresses to the Agricultural Economics Society","authors":"David Blandford","doi":"10.1111/1477-9552.70025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.70025","url":null,"abstract":"The Society's published presidential addresses have embraced a wide range of subject matter, reflecting a ‘road well travelled’ in agricultural economics. The areas covered include the development and use of data and statistics, lessons from history, sectoral analysis, land economics, international trade and international development. There has been a major focus on the application of economic concepts to agricultural and agri‐environmental policy. The addresses also led to consideration of a number of important issues that go beyond the confines of technical analysis to a ‘road less travelled’. These issues include weaknesses in behavioural assumptions in economic theory, the challenge of objectivity in applied analysis, the limitations imposed by a static theoretical framework and the inadequacies of welfare economics in addressing distributional issues in policy choice. The addresses, spanning almost 100 years, demonstrate the role of agricultural economics in evidence‐based policymaking to address critical issues in the use of natural resources. The apparent rejection of the evidence‐based approach in some countries raises the question of whether humankind will be successful in finding a solution to the existential challenge posed by climate change.","PeriodicalId":14994,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Economics","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145897505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We investigate the impact of air quality regulations targeting fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) on farmland values in corn and soybean producing counties in the United States over the period 1997–2022. Using self‐reported farmland value data from the Agricultural Census and county‐level pollution classifications provided by the Environmental Protection Agency, we employ a difference‐in‐differences event‐study design—incorporating inverse probability weighting and doubly robust estimators—to estimate the causal effect of regulatory interventions. Our primary analysis contrasts ‘non‐attainment’ counties, which failed to meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for PM 2.5 , with those that consistently maintained compliance. We further assess heterogeneous treatment effects by extending our analysis with a triple‐difference specification comparing counties with high versus low fertiliser use. Additionally, we employ the recentered influence function to conduct an unconditional quantile analysis across the entire distribution of farmland values. Our estimates indicate an 8.80%–8.94% decline in farmland values in ‘non‐attainment’ counties in response to the enforcement of PM 2.5 standards, suggesting that the economic costs of the prescribed standards were capitalised into farmland values, particularly in regions with higher fertiliser use. However, this impact was not uniform, with more pronounced effects observed among counties at the lower end of the farmland value distribution.
{"title":"Clearing the Air: How Fine Particulate Matter Regulations Reshape Farmland Values in U.S. Corn and Soybean Regions","authors":"Cécile Couharde, Rémi Generoso","doi":"10.1111/1477-9552.70018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.70018","url":null,"abstract":"We investigate the impact of air quality regulations targeting fine particulate matter (PM <jats:sub>2.5</jats:sub> ) on farmland values in corn and soybean producing counties in the United States over the period 1997–2022. Using self‐reported farmland value data from the Agricultural Census and county‐level pollution classifications provided by the Environmental Protection Agency, we employ a difference‐in‐differences event‐study design—incorporating inverse probability weighting and doubly robust estimators—to estimate the causal effect of regulatory interventions. Our primary analysis contrasts ‘non‐attainment’ counties, which failed to meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for PM <jats:sub>2.5</jats:sub> , with those that consistently maintained compliance. We further assess heterogeneous treatment effects by extending our analysis with a triple‐difference specification comparing counties with high versus low fertiliser use. Additionally, we employ the recentered influence function to conduct an unconditional quantile analysis across the entire distribution of farmland values. Our estimates indicate an 8.80%–8.94% decline in farmland values in ‘non‐attainment’ counties in response to the enforcement of PM <jats:sub>2.5</jats:sub> standards, suggesting that the economic costs of the prescribed standards were capitalised into farmland values, particularly in regions with higher fertiliser use. However, this impact was not uniform, with more pronounced effects observed among counties at the lower end of the farmland value distribution.","PeriodicalId":14994,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Economics","volume":"46 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145844884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Orlando Rodríguez, Maria Vrachioli, Johannes Sauer
Coffee producers deal with uncertainty due to high volatility in coffee prices. To navigate these challenges, producers must balance the tradeoff between higher yield and better quality utilising heterogeneous technologies, such as intensive production methods and environmental management practices. The aim of this study is to identify the extent to which heterogeneous technologies, particularly those focused on sustainable management, can influence the technical efficiency of Colombian coffee farms. Using the Latent Class Stochastic Frontier Model (LCSFM), we studied the unobserved differences in technologies among 387 Colombian coffee farms in the Andes. Our findings show that farms adhering to sustainable standards achieved an efficiency rate of 95.68%, compared to 74.93% for farms heavily reliant on chemical pesticides. These results underscore the efficiency benefits of sustainable practices and provide targeted recommendations to improve productivity among different groups of coffee growers. This research contributes to the broader understanding of how adopting sustainable technologies can enhance efficiency in coffee production, offering key insights for policymakers and practitioners aiming to stabilise and develop the sector.
{"title":"Is Technological Heterogeneity the Key to Sustainable Coffee Production Efficiency?: A Latent Class Frontier Analysis in the Traditional Coffee Region of Colombia","authors":"Orlando Rodríguez, Maria Vrachioli, Johannes Sauer","doi":"10.1111/1477-9552.70022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.70022","url":null,"abstract":"Coffee producers deal with uncertainty due to high volatility in coffee prices. To navigate these challenges, producers must balance the tradeoff between higher yield and better quality utilising heterogeneous technologies, such as intensive production methods and environmental management practices. The aim of this study is to identify the extent to which heterogeneous technologies, particularly those focused on sustainable management, can influence the technical efficiency of Colombian coffee farms. Using the Latent Class Stochastic Frontier Model (LCSFM), we studied the unobserved differences in technologies among 387 Colombian coffee farms in the Andes. Our findings show that farms adhering to sustainable standards achieved an efficiency rate of 95.68%, compared to 74.93% for farms heavily reliant on chemical pesticides. These results underscore the efficiency benefits of sustainable practices and provide targeted recommendations to improve productivity among different groups of coffee growers. This research contributes to the broader understanding of how adopting sustainable technologies can enhance efficiency in coffee production, offering key insights for policymakers and practitioners aiming to stabilise and develop the sector.","PeriodicalId":14994,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Economics","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145844885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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